States on edge as SCOTUS weighs marketplace subsidies

After the Supreme Court gave mixed signals this week on whether it would uphold subsidies in the federal marketplace, some states are already beginning to work on backup plans (Source: “States on Edge About the Future of Health Insurance Markets,” Associated Press via ABC News, March 5, 2015).

Many governors want the federal government to craft a contingency plan and at least one governor — in Pennsylvania — is pursuing a state exchange, which would make sure his state was able to receive the subsidy. 

During oral arguments Wednesday, the justices appeared divided in the latest challenge to President Barack Obama's law. Opponents of the law argued that only residents in about a dozen states that set up their own insurance markets can get federal subsidies to help pay their premiums. The administration says the law provides for subsidies in all 50 states.